Donald Ross and Rory McIlroy: A pair for the ages
It’s a shame that Donald Ross, the ingenious golf course architect from humble beginnings in the north of Scotland, never got to see Rory McIlroy, the ingenious golfer from humble beginnings in the north of Ireland, play one of Ross’s classic designs. Beneath a crumpled Scottish flat cap (known colloquially as a bunnet) the mustachioed émigré who famously incorporated “risk versus reward” into almost every hole he designed – including all 18 at suburban Philadelphia’s sublime Aronimink Golf Club, site of the 108 th PGA Championship – would have enjoyed puffing a cigar while watching the reigning Masters champion (twice over, no less! ) and two-time PGA champion tempt fate by crushing drives over trees and hazards and attacking even the most elusive Ross-ian flagstick.
McIlroy's swing is as aesthetically gratifying and meticulously crafted as Ross’s eighth hole at Aronimink, a daunting 242-yard one-shotter over water that devotees consider among the best par 3s he ever molded. Like Ross’s other masterwork, Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, Aronimink was a never-ending object of his passion.
Ross completed his initial design of the Main Line-adjacent layout during the Roaring Twenties, but continued to tinker with it through the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. He died in 1948, four decades ahead of McIlroy’s birth. Before leaving this earth, Ross created more than 400 courses in North America, among them some of the game’s most beloved and iconic venues.
Rory McIlroy torched Aronimink during 2018 pro am Had we been able to exhume Ross early in the morning on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, to watch McIlroy play the BMW Championship pro-am at Aronimink, here’s what the maestro would have witnessed: Rory and his amateur partners were at even-par as they made the turn from the 18th green to the first tee, having negotiated the back nine first after teeing off – as McIlroy is wont to do for practice sessions – at oh-dark-thirty. The first-tee box at Aronimink sits on a mound just underneath its Tudor Revival clubhouse, which is modest compared to certain opulent mansions just up the road.
A nice crowd had gathered to greet McIlroy and his entourage. To the gallery’s delight, out came McIlroy’s driver and . .
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